Month: July 2011

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Cycling in and around town I have picked up a couple of tips I want to pass on
PJ Blogger

Ridgewood NJ – Cycling in and around town I have picked up three tips I want to pass on;
First cyclists and drivers look at the road from two entirely different perspectives ; the cyclist is connected by every nuance , bump ,lawn sprinkler , pot hole and road condition while the drivers perspective is much farther removed. Cyclist often look to avoid road hazards that drivers hardly notice.

Next a cyclist must be extremely vigilant. No amount of safety gear can stand up to the impact of a 3000 pound automobile.This makes vigilance the single most important safety feature for the cyclist.  Always remember it is up the rider to protect themselves. anticipate and be on the defensive.

And finally wear extremely bright clothing. Don’t underestimate how difficult it can be for a driver to see you .The brighter the better . It helps the driver notice you sooner. ,and makes you a more visible target . A couple of seconds can be the difference between a trip to the corner store and a trip to the emergency room .

>Scott Garrett : Senator Reid’s Plan Full of Too Many False Savings

As a part of my ongoing effort to keep you updated on what’s going on with the debt ceiling debate in Washington, I wanted to take a moment to fill you in on where we stand and what things look like going forward.

Over the past two weeks, House Republicans have passed two bills – the Cut, Cap and Balance Act and the Budget Control Act – to steer our nation away from default and towards fiscal sustainability.  Each of these bills are sensible compromises that satisfy President Obama’s request to raise the debt ceiling while fulfilling our commitment to cut spending now, implement caps to bring down spending in the future and pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

However, Senate Democrats on Friday failed to even bring up the House-passed Budget Control Act for debate, just as they did with the Cut, Cap and Balance Act.  Meanwhile, instead of considering one of the solutions passed by the House or negotiating with Republicans to forge a compromise, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has put forth a plan that would give President Obama another blank check to spend American taxpayer dollars.  This is merely an extension of the irresponsible practices that led us to the situation we now find ourselves.

While I appreciate Senator Reid’s efforts to actually offer a solution to this crisis, I feel it is not the right prescription to address the root problem of this crisis—Washington’s addiction to spending and borrowing.  Not only does it fail to address our spending and debt problem, it won’t even prevent a downgrade of our credit rating.  The Reid plan makes false promises of future “savings” of $1 trillion from war spending that is not written into law and no one plans to actually spend.  According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), even assuming these imaginary war savings, this plan still falls $216 billion short of equal-or-greater spending cuts to a debt ceiling increase.  Excluding those phantom war savings, the shortfall skyrockets to nearly $1.5 trillion.  Both Senate and House Republicans have made it clear to them that this is unacceptable.

The American people are tired of Washington’s accounting gimmicks and budget smokescreens, they’re tired of out of control spending, and they’re ready for a compromise.  House Republicans have now offered two plans that reach a compromise and allow us to get back to the business of creating jobs and reviving our sluggish economy.  It is my sincere hope that my colleagues across the aisle recognize this chance and fulfill their duty to their constituents by considering the compromises they have before them.

> President Barack Obama Spams Followers on Twitter

President Barack Obama takes debt battle to Twitter, loses more than 40,000 followers in one day

BY Anjali Mullany
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Friday, July 29th 2011, 4:45 PM
Updated: Friday, July 29th 2011, 10:57 PM

President Obama brought his debt battle to Twitter and he lost – more than 40,000 Twitter followers.

Obama asked Americans Friday to call, email, and tweet Congressional leaders to “keep the pressure on” lawmakers in hopes of reaching a bipartisan deal to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit ahead of an Aug. 2 deadline.

Obama’s campaign staff used the @BarackObama Twitter account to post the Twitter handles of tweeting GOP leaders – state by state, tweet by tweet.

Read more: https://www.nydailynews.com/tech_guide/2011/07/29/2011-07-29_bams_spam_president_barack_obama_takes_debt_battle_to_twitter_loses_more_than_20.html#ixzz1Tb4aA700

> Debt Ceiling : EVERYTHING must be on the table

Philosophically, these people are correct. However, our country is based on a two party system that requires compromise to work properly. The result is NEVER the perfect solution. But, it is USUALLY the best solution for the greatest number of people. These people need to compromise.

The system does NOT produce the best solution when one party bypasses the process, as the Democrats did when they passes Obamacare. Our future heathcare costs under Obamacare are, by far, the greatest contributor to our spending in the next decade (in 9 years we are projected to have spent a total of $2.2 trillion on healthcare).

The risks are far too great to play this political game with a debt compromise. Unfortunately, as we saw during the financial crisis, our elected officials do not truly understand how the global financial markets function. It is NOT an option to allow a “hard” or “soft” default on our debt and a downgrade of our credit rating would have devastating repercussions for ALL Americans and people around the world. This is not “scare tactics”. This is reality. It is time for adults to take over in Washington and reach a compromise BEFORE TUESDAY.

Ultimately, we need a revision to the tax code that can produce the income that Democrats want (not tax hikes for the top 5% of taxpayers, who pay 60% of the tax burden). Keep in mind that over 50% of Americans pay “0” Federal income tax. The solution to our debt problem is truly on the spending side, and particularly with healthcare. There is also waste in military spending that can be eliminated. We need to cut “future” entitlement growth and EVERYTHING must be on the table. But, this does not need to be (and can’t be) accomplished by Tuesday. Job #1 is to ensure that we pay all our bills and that we establish a sufficient amount of cuts to be made ($3.5 – 5 trillion) and empower a commission to draft the law over the next month.

>Balanced Budget Amendment is the Key to Addressing our Fiscal Crisis

Just last week, House Republicans put forth an honest solution to address our nation’s debt crisis by passing the Cut, Cap and Balance Act with bipartisan support.  This was a straightforward, common-sense approach that satisfied the president’s request to raise the debt ceiling while tackling our country’s addiction to debt by reining in Washington’s out of control spending.

The bill would immediately cut the deficit by $111 billion in 2012, institute enforceable caps on spending as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) over the next ten years, and require a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution to avoid ever having to face this problem again.  Unfortunately, Senate Democrats tabled the bill, essentially killing the bipartisan effort of the House without so much as debating, much less voting, on the measure.

So here we are, just four days out from President Obama’s August 2nd deadline and we still have not seen action from Democrats in the Senate to address our debt crisis.  Furthermore, in the case of President Obama, we haven’t even been told what his plan is to raise the debt ceiling.  Understanding the urgency of forging a solution that can pass both chambers of Congress, House Republicans stepped up to the plate again today by putting forth yet another proposal to raise the debt ceiling—the Budget Control Act of 2011.

As Speaker Boehner will readily admit, the bill brought to the House floor today is far from perfect.  It is not the ideal solution that I or many of my Republican colleagues would like to see come out of this process, but it does satisfy the president’s request to raise the debt ceiling while upholding our commitment to equal-or-greater spending cuts and enacting a balanced budget amendment.  Since Senate Democrats and the Obama administration have drawn a hard line and opposed every good-faith effort by Republicans to reach a compromise, it is my sincere hope that they finally meet us halfway by getting on board with this sensible solution to resolving our country’s debt crisis.

President Obama continues to publicly oppose this bill, arguing that the two-step process in which the debt ceiling will be raised would force us to have to revisit this debate again six months from now.  The President has also expressed opposition to a balanced budget amendment, naively claiming that “we don’t need a constitutional amendment to do our jobs.”

What remains a mystery to me, is why the president, who seems so intent on avoiding this issue in the future, opposes the very thing that will prevent us from ever facing this crisis again.  A balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, by its very design, is the only mechanism that will prevent us from having to address this issue again in the future.  Should we not choose this path to budgetary reform, not only will we be saddled with another crisis down the road, but the severity of the situation at that point will be far worse and require even tougher sacrifices.

This is a moment of profound importance for the future of our country.  We have an opportunity to reverse a 50-year trend towards out of control spending and unfunded entitlements that threaten to destroy our country from the inside out.  Just this week, The Wall Street Journal published an editorial explaining the crushing burden our entitlement programs have on our federal budget process.  According to The Wall Street Journal, “The looming debt downgrade only confirms what everyone knows: Congress has made so many promises to so many Americans that there is no conceivable way those promises can be kept.  Tax rates might have to rise to 60%, 70%, even 80% to raise the revenues to finance these promises, but that would be economically ruinous.”

If we do nothing, if we sit back and let this cancer grow, we risk becoming the next Greece.  Speaker Boehner’s Budget Control Act of 2011 is not perfect, but it does take that bold first step in the right direction.  It sets the stage for this Congress to make real structural reforms to give our children and our grandchildren hope that they, too, will grow up in a land of opportunity with the freedom to pursue their own American dream.

Sincerely,

Scott Garrett

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photos courtesy of Boyd loving 

photos courtesy of Boyd loving 
Busted 


Ridgewood NJ – A vehicle owned by the Village of Ridgewood, and being driven by a Village employee, was stopped on South Maple Avenue earlier this week in connection with a checkpoint established by Ridgewood PD and the NJ Division of Motor Vehicles (NJDMV).
 
The vehicle was observed to be displaying a NJDMV inspection sticker that expired in April of 2010 (yes, 2010 – see for yourself).
 
Inspectors from NJDMV conducted an emissions test using equipment in their Mobile Inspection Unit.  The vehicle passed all emissions tests and no summons was issued to the driver because he possessed a valid license, 
vehicle registration, and insurance card


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>the dysfunction of Cottage Place

This BOE allows Regina to wreck havoc upon our curriculum. They haven’t a clue how to run a district. Jack is the best thing that has happened to the Ridgewood Public School system in years. It will be a sad day when he leaves us.

With his family moving, it is only a matter of time before he goes too. Wake up Ridgewood and ask yourselves, why does such a fine principal leave us.

The answer is simple… the dysfunction of Cottage Place. We loose a great principal because our BOE and the people who support them refuse to see the problem and believe all the BS that the Admins shovel at them.

We wish Jack’s family well. Alabama’s gain is Ridgewood’s loss